We hear a lot about "new energy sources" as our country has become so dependent on oil from other places around the world to fuel our cars and trucks. It really is pretty amazing how much we rely on that black liquid that lies beneath the surface of some countries that are hostile to us...or that almost hold us hostage...all because of our need for that precious resource. So we are seeing electric cars and giant windmills and high tech batteries and solar power, etc. We are looking for "energy independence". Sometimes I think that we have been looking for energy sources for our personal lives. We try almost anything to find the energy that will make us independent...careers, addictions, money, meditation, political power. It's pretty clear that one of the most wonderful results of Jesus' ascension to Heaven was the sending of His Holy Spirit...the ultimate energy supply. Just imagine if you had a healthy way to access the same energy that created the universe and that raised Jesus from the dead! We find, in Acts chapter 8, that the early believers had truly become empowered by this energy. Even though they were severely persecuted and punished because of their new-found trust in the Lord....so much so that they had to scatter far from their homes to survive...rather than hide their new identity in Christ, they proclaimed it wherever they went:
Acts 8:1b At that time a great persecution arose against the church which was at Jerusalem; and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles.
3 As for Saul, he made havoc of the church, entering every house, and dragging off men and women, committing them to prison. 4 Therefore those who were scattered went everywhere preaching the word.
I don't know about you, but if people were being dragged from their homes and hauled off to prison in my neighborhood for their faith and I left town to escape that fate, I'm not sure I'd broadcast my faith to the world. But these folks had found a new energy source and they were apparently more interested in avoiding prison so that they could bring news of this new life...new energy...to others. Apparently one of the wonderful results of coming to Christ is a love for others that reaches beyond our own lives. I suppose that kind of energy "dependence" is a good thing!
blessings,
Rob Smith
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